According to KylahJo

JUNETEENTH?

Hi everyone, this is the author of this blog’s Mom, @keshajo. My daughter wanted to write about Juneteenth, but because she is learning about the day, I told her I’d give you a quick rundown. So consider it a collaboration I taught for thirteen years in public education, so I know a little something about teaching the youth.

So, let’s access your prior knowledge:

1. Do you remember that Africans were brought to the New World (America) to be slaves in 1619, Jamestown, Virginia to be specific?

2. Did you know that slavery was a free labor system? Which means, they worked for no pay and their owners received 100% profit from whatever crop that was sold that his slaves produced.

3. Did you know that slaves were killed (lynched), beaten, raped and denied an education for centuries (hundreds of years)?

4. Did you know the Civil War was the only war we have fought on domestic (USA) soil? This was the ultimate fight between the Union (Northern sympathizers who wanted to end slavery) and the Confederacy (Southerners, plantation owners, who did not want to end slavery). The Union consisted of most states of the North and the Confederacy consisted of states in the South. They were once together, but then South Carolina “peaced out” once Abraham Lincoln became president.

5. The Emanicipation Proclamation was written and went into effect, January 1, 1863. It freed slaves of the Confederacy ONLY!

6. The Civil War ended April 5, 1865, when General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomatox Court House. The Union won and slavery was over. But not exactly…

Juneteenth, as it is affectionately known, happened on June 19, 1865. News that the slaves were freed (because of the Emancipation Proclamation) and that the war was over and the North had won, was slow to spread throughout the South. Due to its lack of Union presence, size and geographical isolation, many slaveholders retreated to Texas. But on that infamous date, Juneteenth, General Major Granger finally arrived at Galveston, Texas, with federal troops. He announced that the war was over and that the enslaved were free. Jubilation ensued, and thus we continue to celebrate the day America finally unshackled themselves from a deeply rooted dark past. We still have a ways to go, mentally. Please promote goodness and love throughout your communities, neighborhoods, schools, and families. Nothing good is born from hate. Love you all!